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An Enormous Crime: The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia
The dramatic history of living American soldiers left in Vietnam, and the first full account of the circumstances that left them there
An Enormous Crime is nothing less than shocking. Based on thousands of pages of public and previously classified documents, it makes an utterly convincing case that when the American government withdrew its forces from Vietnam, it knowingly abandoned hundreds of POWs to their fate. The product of twenty-five years of research by former Congressman Bill Hendon and attorney Elizabeth A. Stewart, An Enormous Crime brilliantly exposes the reasons why these American soldiers and airmen were held back by the North Vietnamese at Operation Homecoming in 1973 and what these men have endured since.
Despite hundreds of postwar sightings and intelligence reports telling of Americans being held captive throughout Vietnam and Laos, Washington did nothing. And despite numerous secret military signals and codes sent from the desperate POWs themselves, the Pentagon did not act. Even in 1988, a U.S. spy satellite passing over Sam Neua Province, Laos, spotted the twelve-foot-tall letters "USA" and immediately beneath them a huge, highly classified Vietnam War-era USAF/USN Escape & Evasion code in a rice paddy in a narrow mountain valley. The letters "USA" appeared to have been dug out of the ground, while the code appeared to have been fashioned from rice straw (see jacket photograph).
Tragically, the brave men who constructed these codes have not yet come home. Nor have any of the other American POWs who the postwar intelligence shows have laid down similar codes, secret messages, and secret authenticators in rice paddies and fields and garden plots and along trails in both Laos and Vietnam.
An Enormous Crime is based on open-source documents and reports, and thousands of declassified intelligence reports and satellite imagery, as well as author interviews and personal experience. It is a singular work, telling a story unlike any other in our modern ugly, harrowing, and true.
From the Bay of Pigs, where John and Robert Kennedy struck a deal with Fidel Castro that led to freedom for the Bay of Pigs prisoners, to the Paris Peace Accords, in which the authors argue Kissinger and Nixon sold American soldiers down the river for political gain, to a continued reluctance to revisit the possibility of reclaiming any men who might still survive, we have a story untold for decades. And with An Enormous Crime we have for the first time a comprehensive history of America's leaders in their worst hour; of life-and-death decision making based on politics, not intelligence; and of men lost to their families and the country they serve, betrayed by their own leaders.
An Enormous Crime is nothing less than shocking. Based on thousands of pages of public and previously classified documents, it makes an utterly convincing case that when the American government withdrew its forces from Vietnam, it knowingly abandoned hundreds of POWs to their fate. The product of twenty-five years of research by former Congressman Bill Hendon and attorney Elizabeth A. Stewart, An Enormous Crime brilliantly exposes the reasons why these American soldiers and airmen were held back by the North Vietnamese at Operation Homecoming in 1973 and what these men have endured since.
Despite hundreds of postwar sightings and intelligence reports telling of Americans being held captive throughout Vietnam and Laos, Washington did nothing. And despite numerous secret military signals and codes sent from the desperate POWs themselves, the Pentagon did not act. Even in 1988, a U.S. spy satellite passing over Sam Neua Province, Laos, spotted the twelve-foot-tall letters "USA" and immediately beneath them a huge, highly classified Vietnam War-era USAF/USN Escape & Evasion code in a rice paddy in a narrow mountain valley. The letters "USA" appeared to have been dug out of the ground, while the code appeared to have been fashioned from rice straw (see jacket photograph).
Tragically, the brave men who constructed these codes have not yet come home. Nor have any of the other American POWs who the postwar intelligence shows have laid down similar codes, secret messages, and secret authenticators in rice paddies and fields and garden plots and along trails in both Laos and Vietnam.
An Enormous Crime is based on open-source documents and reports, and thousands of declassified intelligence reports and satellite imagery, as well as author interviews and personal experience. It is a singular work, telling a story unlike any other in our modern ugly, harrowing, and true.
From the Bay of Pigs, where John and Robert Kennedy struck a deal with Fidel Castro that led to freedom for the Bay of Pigs prisoners, to the Paris Peace Accords, in which the authors argue Kissinger and Nixon sold American soldiers down the river for political gain, to a continued reluctance to revisit the possibility of reclaiming any men who might still survive, we have a story untold for decades. And with An Enormous Crime we have for the first time a comprehensive history of America's leaders in their worst hour; of life-and-death decision making based on politics, not intelligence; and of men lost to their families and the country they serve, betrayed by their own leaders.
587 pages, Hardcover
First published May 29, 2007
21 people are currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Bill Hendon
1 book2 followersWilliam Martin Hendon was an American author, POW/MIA activist, and two-term Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina's 11th District.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 27, 2009
Wow -- I feel nothing but complete disdain for the American government after reading this book.
Our government abandoned hundreds if not thousands of American POW s in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos at the wars end; and they completely deny their existence to the public. As recently as 1992, imprisoned Americans were forming distress signals on the ground and were witnessed in bamboo cages and secret prison camps throughout the area.
The families of these abandoned soldiers have tried for years to get help through the politicians in Washington, but their efforts have been in vain. They are deemed "conspiracy theorists" and "wackos" by John McCain, among others. They are helpless in a world of cover-ups and corrupt leaders.
Great book.
Our government abandoned hundreds if not thousands of American POW s in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos at the wars end; and they completely deny their existence to the public. As recently as 1992, imprisoned Americans were forming distress signals on the ground and were witnessed in bamboo cages and secret prison camps throughout the area.
The families of these abandoned soldiers have tried for years to get help through the politicians in Washington, but their efforts have been in vain. They are deemed "conspiracy theorists" and "wackos" by John McCain, among others. They are helpless in a world of cover-ups and corrupt leaders.
Great book.
March 26, 2015
Hendon puts together a lot of real evidence and I prise him for that.
You will find a lot of facts, but the consequences of those fact - that he give to the reader - are REALLY wrong. So, if you are not an historian, don't read this book, because you won't be able to find the many traps behind this book.
Read INSIDE HANOI SECRET ARCHIVES, it's a much better work on the subject.
You will find a lot of facts, but the consequences of those fact - that he give to the reader - are REALLY wrong. So, if you are not an historian, don't read this book, because you won't be able to find the many traps behind this book.
Read INSIDE HANOI SECRET ARCHIVES, it's a much better work on the subject.
October 17, 2008
This book (almost textbook like) is a very well written history of the POW issue from the close of our failed involvement in Vietnam in 1973 to the present day. It follows a progressive timeline, sequencing the events as to why the POW’s were withheld, extremely numerous reports of POW sightings, how much our government knew about it, what Vietnam wanted, and why over succeeding administrations the issue continued to be silenced.
The author, Hendon, was a US Congressman who became involved in trying to bring this issue to light and to negotiate with Vietnam. There are over 70 pages of reference notes cited for documentation to the footnotes in the text of the book. Even if you were to dismiss 50% of the book as BS, the remaining balance is still enough to cause me serious concern and loss of respect for many in our govt. It has been a long, long, time since I have read a book with pen and highlighter in hand to make my notes.
I certainly recommend the book, and think anyone would find it fascinating on many levels. I can’t say that anyone would enjoy it (not a word to use with it), but believe it will give a new perspective on the issue, as well as shinning a bright light on our government, regardless of who claims to be in charge.
Since I am of the generation of the people written about, I found myself comparing the timeline of 32 years to my life, and wondering if for the Grace of God,,,,,
The author, Hendon, was a US Congressman who became involved in trying to bring this issue to light and to negotiate with Vietnam. There are over 70 pages of reference notes cited for documentation to the footnotes in the text of the book. Even if you were to dismiss 50% of the book as BS, the remaining balance is still enough to cause me serious concern and loss of respect for many in our govt. It has been a long, long, time since I have read a book with pen and highlighter in hand to make my notes.
I certainly recommend the book, and think anyone would find it fascinating on many levels. I can’t say that anyone would enjoy it (not a word to use with it), but believe it will give a new perspective on the issue, as well as shinning a bright light on our government, regardless of who claims to be in charge.
Since I am of the generation of the people written about, I found myself comparing the timeline of 32 years to my life, and wondering if for the Grace of God,,,,,
March 1, 2013
Everyone should read this book. Powerful and horrifying.
November 14, 2015
This book was difficult to put down and has irrefutable evidence that American servicemen were held in Southeast Asia after the war in Vietnam. A extremely well researched and well written book. There's no doubt these men were held long after the Paris Peace Accords and Operation Homecoming. Who knows if any are still alive but it seems to be very possible. To anyone believes the POW/MIA issue is a false industry they should read this book and see that politics left these men behind in captivity to a horrific fate with their families never knowing what happened to them. Many of whom were known captured alive and then disappeared.
September 1, 2007
As a former Search and Rescue Controller I found some of the documentation that I have been looking for on how the NVN used POWs for political advantage and how Kissinger double crossed the American Serviceman. For years I have been tared with the label "Loser" when in fact as documented in this book, we were betrayed by the White House and State Department. I would recommend this book to any Vit Nam Vet who is looking for some closure, but particularly to those who are still trying to figure out how we "Lost".
July 18, 2012
A very in-depth look at the men we left behind in Vietnam. Gets well into politics but would have to to explain in such great detail. I did not buy this book but borrowed from the Poland Public Library however it is a book I want to buy for my personal library.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews